Automatic or self-opening extension dining-table.



- E. NAPOLI.

AUTOMATIG 0B. SELF OPENING EXTENSIO DINING TABLE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 19 10.

Patented Sept. 19, 1911.

WITNESSES E. NAPOLI.

AUTOMATIC OR. SELF OPENING EXTENSION DINING TABLE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1,03,4;90. Patented Sept. 19, 1911.

($1 9. Cfikigw of? dinir UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EUGENIO NAPOLI, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

AUTOMATIC OR S ELF-OPENING EXTENSION DINING-TABLE.

To all whom it may concern: 4

Be it known that I, EUGENIQ NAPOLI, a subject of Victor Emanuel III,King of Italy, with application for declaration of intei'ition forAmerican citizenship filed in the ottiee of the clerk of the UnitedStates of th inconveniences of the dining table in constricted quarters,such as small apartments and tenements in the larger cities, been thedifficulty of finding a.

- place in which to dispose the separate leaves which are not in use,and whiclrheretotorc have generally formed the accepted method ofextending such tables when desired.

It is a main object of my invention to provide stoi e space within thetable itself "1. leaves, which are seldom present ca provides for two tit will. be obvious after cone specification and drawings that oi theinvention may be ere other munhers of leaves, or that one only may beemployed, in a small table. The leaves fold up when not in use, and arestowed by a single manipulation below the top of the table, which closesover them so as to present the usual. substantially un broken surface;when it is desired to extend the table the two parts of the permanenttop are drawn apart, and thereupon one of the leaves is released and isautomatically ejected from its resting place by means of a suitablespring, and then unfolded in position upon the slides; the parts of thetable may then'be pressed together, the dowels upon the extra leaf andthe permanent parts of the top fitting into place in the usual manner. Adetent is provided which causesone of the leaves to operate at a time,the detent serving to hold the second leaf or other Specification ofLetters Patent.

AppIieation filed June21, 1910.

Patented Sept. 19, 1911'.

Serial No. 568,127.

leaves dormant until the table be pulled farther open, automatic meansbeing provided to release the detent after the first leaf has come intoposition; and thereupon the second leaf, or other leaves, is alsoreleased from its resting place and brought into proper position.

It has heretofore been proposed to stow the leaves in the space beneaththe table top when the occasion to do so arises; but all of the tableswith which I am acquainted have been obj ectionable for one reason oranother, requiring the manipulation of catches and handles, which areliable to get out of order and are not automatic in their action. Insome cases also only the top of the table moves and the legs remainstationary, which is apt to make the whole structure loose and unsteadafter it has been in use but a little while, since the heavy parts ofthe top move so as to overhang the legs, and are held against tipping bythe dowels alone. The

arrangel'nent of my invention, however, uses it the ordinary slides andlegs connected to them in the usual way, and superposes the new partsupon them, avoiding the objections pointed out. Since the wholeoperation of the table is automatic and does not re quire skilled orindeed any, manipulation other than the mere pulling open of the table,to bring the eXtension leaves into their proper places, it avoids theobjections of those forms in which latches and detents must be moved byhand.

The accompanying drawings show an eIn-- bodimont of the invention. Inthem, Figure l is a top plan view; Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view, thelegs being removed for clearness. Fig. 3 isa top plan view with thetable partly open; one leaf being in position and the other about torise from its resting place. Fig. 4 is a section upon the line 4, 4 ofFig. 52 looking to the right, but with the parts in their normalposition. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are details of the locking mechanism; shownupon an enlarged scale.

In Fig. 1, A, A are the parts of the arrangements or slides of anextension table are indicated at (Z, d, (Z (Z3, etc.; and crossbraces D,D are also indicated. One of the slides carries a latch E, theconstruction of which is shown more clearly in Fig. 5. It consists of acase or box 6, preferably of metal, a bolt 6 with a spring 0 around itsspindle, and av pin 0 fast in the bolt, and working in a slot in thecase. Upon the rail or slide (Z is a guide D which cooperates with a pinin the bolt of the latch and withdraws the latter, allowing it to returnby the force of the spring after the guide,

which is practically a. cam, has acted and passed. The o'tlice of thislatch is to hold the folding leaf B in place when the parts A,

A of thetable are to be brought together. A spring 6 surrounds a rod 6and is attached at one end: The oflice of this spring is to unfold theleaf when the latch F is operated as the cam D passes its pin. As seenin Fig. 4, the dottcdline position of the leaf B is that which it takeswhen folded, it being" shownin that figure in solid lines in itsposition when extended. The guide F shown in solid lines in Fig. 4, isupon the other side of the leaf B, and the holes b, b for the dowels(not shown) upon the part of the permanent top are designedly located inpositions directly opposite the dowels b, b shown in Fig. 3, so that thepaths of "the latter with reference to the guide F- may be approximatelyindicated, as they are in Fig. 4 by the dotted circles; it will beunderstood that these circles are only approximations, the true pathsbeing complicated by reason of the lower part of the leaves swingingabout both the rod 5 and the hinge b as centers.

Referring now to Figs. 3 and at, taken in connection with Fig. 2, Ishown the method of operation of the second one of the leaves, the twoparts of which arelettered C, 0 In Fig. 3 the leaf C is shown asprovided with reinforcing parts C and is mounted upon a rod 0 aboutwhich it turns, the s ring a} acting like the spring b of the leaf 1 Theleaf is carried in a frame G, provided with an automatic catch I,presently to be more fully describcd, which holds the frame G under thepart A of the. permanent top until it is desired to .release.it. Afterit is released the frame G slides out from under the part A and a cam Doperates a latch E like that which secures the leaf li, When the tableis closed the, twq folded leaves B and O are disposed one abpve theother, the leaf C being shown in dotted lines in, Fig. 4:, because oneof the 'CI'OSSrIELllS of the frame G is between it and the observer. Asseen m Fig. 2, a groove 0 passes across the under part Q of the leaf, sothat when groove may be omitted, as will be manifest, since there willthen be room enough for the spring. In order to insure the consecutiveoperation of these two sets of leaves, I arrange an automatic catchwhich is illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, and in a smaller view in plan inFig. 3. Fig. (i is partly in section on the line 6, 6 of. Fig. 3, andFig. 7 is an end elevation looking to the right, of the latch shown inFig. 6. As will be observed the'latch, which holds leaf C dormant,consists of an elbow-catch I having a downwardly projecting portion I itis pivoted'at i and works against a stop The upper part of this catch isbeveled off as shown at a in Fig. 7, as is also the lower part, at inthe same figure. The upper portion engages with a recess behind a platea in the top part A of the table, and when the table is. closed thebeveled portion 2' causes the catch to slide out of the way of the platea, and then to engage with it; while when the top part A is'drawn to theright, as shown by the arrow in Fig. 3, plate it draws the frame G alonwith it, thus drawing along the leaves l, C Iand allowing the leaves B,B to be thrown up into their proper places. If no further extension ofthe table be desired, the usual dowels b are brought into place and thetable being closed together becomes firm. If, however, it be desired tohave a reater length, the part A is pulled out still arther until thelower part I of the catch I engages with the beveled portion it upon across-bar H (see Figs. 2 and i) which releases the top of the table,permitting it to slide until the frame G has come against the stops 9, ga little farther movement of the top then draws the cam D past the latchE (see Fig. 3) releasing the latter; whereupon the spring. 0 on the rod0 throws-up the leaves 0, C

The table which I have shown is intended to be and is in fact automaticin its action, in that by the mere opening of the permanent parts of thetop .the extension leaves are brought into place upon the top of therails or slldes, so that by simply pushing the permanent parts of thetop toward one another the operation is complete, It is obvious thatthis is the best method of operation, since it avoids trouble for thosewho are not familiar with mechanical mattersrbut the spring may be ofsuch strength as merely to start the leaves from place withoutcompleting the operation, or the arrangement may be such that they aresimply released so as to be movable by hand, without departing from theinvention. In those of my claims in which I have used the wordautomatically, 'I mean to refer to the table when equipped with thesprings for the purpose above described; in the strict sense the actionis not automatic, since it must be ing the leaf and started manually-,but I have used it as a convenient term which will not be misunderstood.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectby' Letters- Patent of the United States, is:

1. An extension table comprising a divided permanent top, slides, andmeans for suporting them; a leaf composed oftwo parts 'inged togetherand turning about a center eccentric to the hinge, a spring forunfoldbringing it into the plane of the permanent top, a detent forholding the leaf in its folded position against the the leaf, a latchupon the frame holding the leaf in its concealed position against thetension of the spring, a pin in a cam upon one of the slides cooperatingwith the, pin, the slide moving when the sections of the permanent topare drawn apart; whereby when the table is opened the latch is drawnback and releases the folding leaf, the spring rotating it about the roduntil it unfolds and assumes a position in the plane of the permanenttop.

apart the divisions of the top,

the detent at desired times.

the combinathem;

the latch, and

3. In an extension table, the combination of a permanent top divided.into sections, slides and meansfor supporting them; with a plurality offolding leaves each composed of two parts hinged together and turningabout a rod eccentric to the hinge, a spring about the rod one end ofwhich is secured thereto and the other end of which presses against theleaf, a latch for each ofthe folding leaves, a cam for each of themlocated upon the'slides which move with the opening of theto a detentfor preventing the action of one o the leaves until the other has beenbrought into extended position, and means for releasing the detent byfurther extension of the table.

4. In an extension table the combination of a divided permanent top, theslides and meansfor supporting them; with a plurality of folding leavesdisposed below the permanent to when the'tableis closed, each leafcom-pose of two parts hinged together,

the arts swlnging'about a rod eccentric to the mge, a spring attached-atone end to the rod and bearing against the leaf so as to g ve itatendency to swing around the rod, a latch for each leaf, with meansupon the slides: for releasing the latches in Ilesired order; a detentfor the leaves other I than the first, and means,loperated by thefurther opening of the table, to release the detent at desired times.EUGENIO NAPOLI.

Witnesses: 'PAS UALE MAGLIARI,

ANTONIO MANCUSO.

